When I started to lead a little, I couldn’t help but lead a lot…

This was a phrase that came out of my mouth this morning when I was speaking with my own coach, Roger DeWitt, and he was prompting me to articulate my recent growth as a leader. A Little backstory…

At the end of last year, our development company was very successful. We had grown 97.5% in gross revenue over the prior year, we had a remarkable and dedicated staff, and our clients were thriving as a result of our business model. Had we continued along this path, we could have remained a development company and re-applied the formula over and over again and become six figures profitable by October of this year. Unfortunately, there was a glitch. The hiccup came when we were forced to answer the question: “What happens to our clients when we complete development of their books?”

We were forced to answer this question when both of the clients who had completed manuscripts with us moved into the next phase of their books only to find themselves in printer/publisher hell. They were caught up in an industry that cared nothing about them or the work that we had all poured so much into. They were in pain, having traveled from the high point of creation to the low point of distribution. They were suddenly dealing with entities that were not artist driven, not heart and gut driven; they were business and profit driven–head driven.

We were faced with a dilemma. Let them suffer, or stand up and get involved. We made the choice that we felt was best for our clients and we opened a publishing division of our company. Admittedly, we did not know what we were doing or getting into; we just knew it was the right thing to do. We all put our heads down, shifted our energy, went to work and birthed Writers of the Round Table Press.

That decision was the moment I became a better leader. Not just because we were doing something to benefit our clients, but because of how leading a little bit in that moment would force me to lead more and more over the coming months. We have been forced to evaluate and adjust ever since. Our COO moved over to direct the publishing division and develop the systems that would power it. One of our project managers was moved over to direct the marketing efforts of the new division. Our designer split his time and worked on both sides of the company continuing to design book covers and websites, while also tackling collateral marketing materials. We took what would have been $10,000 in profit a month and poured it into a simple choice to better the client experience.

Today our marketing director, Sue Publicover is on fire working for our clients and building that aspect of the business; “a leader in her own kingdom,” to quote my coach. Our Creative Director, Eva Silva Travers is being forced to take on more of a leadership role on the development side because my time is more limited and she is embracing every challenge and excelling. David Cohen, our COO and Publishing Director and I are being put into situation after situation that challenges how we are building both sides of our business; forcing us to listen to one another with greater intention and solve problems with more respect for one another to the greater benefit of our clients. We have even hired an additional designer to handle the overload of work, and are looking for an assistant to take over some of Dave’s administrative duties and a sales person to push our client’s books out into the market. Every single person within the company, and every client we work with, is being challenged by our decision to better service our existing clients. Our executive staff is stepping into their own leadership roles and our clients are being challenged to recognize the potential for their own books as they watch those that are publishing with us already.

We do not have all the answers; in fact, we have very few of them. But we love what we do, respect one another, admit when we make mistakes, challenge one another to lead with integrity, search for opportunities within any given situation, and have fun every day.

Do yourself a favor. Start to lead a little–from your heart, from your gut–and you just might find that it can positively affect everyone and everything around you. Leadership is like a snowball. Start down the hill.